Bayer 04 Leverkusen hailed a crucial win as they closed in on the top four and all but eliminated VfL Wolfsburg from the equation for UEFA Champions League qualifying berths next season. bundesliga.com rounds up the post-match reaction...

Julian Brandt (Leverkusen forward): "It was a positive game for us. I think we put in a great performance as a team today. Chicharito was exceptional. He only landed back in Germany yesterday but scored once and set up another which shows his quality. For me personally things are going well right now. As a team we've won three in a row, all with clean sheets, which is the type of form we need for the rest of the season. We came through a tough period. We lost a lot of players to injury during that time, but we've emerged from it stronger. You can see how quickly things can change in the standings. We've still got to play Gladbach and Schalke which won't be easy games, but of course we want to finish in the top four."

Javier 'Chicharito' Hernandez (Leverkusen forward): "It's a great win – a great win for the team. It was a difficult game but we knew that would be the case considering they're taking on Real Madrid in the Champions League in midweek. For us, though, it was a very important win for our pursuit of a top-four finish. I travelled a lot during the international break, but I felt good and was pleased to get some minutes under my belt. Everyone in the team stepped up to the plate today and we deserved to win."

Lars Bender (Leverkusen midfielder and captain): "I'm just delighted to be back out on the pitch, but it makes it that little bit sweeter that we won. We deserved to win today. We put in a real team performance. I think we've got a few players still to come back from injury. 'Chicha' came off the bench to score. Tonight was a first step. Next up is Köln, but it was another important step towards achieving what we want to achieve."

Julian Draxler (Wolfsburg midfielder): "We played terribly today. We were second best in a lot of situations. Real Madrid will be a very different game. It's a different competition. Today our job was to concentrate on Leverkusen, though. Our performance wasn't up to scratch. Things don't look good for us right now. You can't say we deserve to be higher in the standings than we are right now. We've got to improve a lot more to compete where we want to be – at the top of the table."

Diego Benaglio (Wolfsburg goalkeeper and captain): "Things aren't going as well as they did for us last season, that's clear. We didn't match our opponents today. We played better in the second half, but overall we didn't do enough. We weren't distracted by Real Madrid. This was a crucial Bundesliga match for us and we were fully focused on it. I think today's game was decisive in determining where we're going to be next season."